Walgreens, Rite Aid merger abandoned

Walgreens and Rite Aid will no longer be merging according to a statement issued Thursday morning. But Walgreens is still planning to buy a large number of Rite Aid stores.

Posted 6:58 p.m. Jun 29, 2017 — Updated 8:50 p.m. Jun 29, 2017

Walgreens and Rite Aid will no longer be merging because of difficulty gaining regulatory approval, according to a statement issued Thursday morning.

“The decision to terminate the merger agreement follows feedback received from the Federal Trade Commission that led the company to believe that the parties would not have obtained FTC clearance to consummate the merger,” according to Rite Aid.

But Walgreens is planning to buy 2,186 Rite Aid stores after a proposed new deal closes, which could be within the next 6 months.

The majority of the stores included in the purchase are located in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

Rite Aid has not released specific information indicating which stores will be sold to Walgreens and which stores will remain Rite Aid stores, but according to an article from CouponsintheNews.com, most North Carolina Rite Aid stores will likely become Walgreens stores. Rite Aid offered before and after sale store counts to investors today and of the 224 Rite Aid stores in North Carolina, only 8 will still be owned by Rite Aid after the deal closes.

Of course, these numbers are subject to change as the purchase details are worked out, but for now, it appears that most Rite Aid stores in North Carolina will not continue to function as Rite Aid stores in the future.

As more information about what will happen to the stores that Walgreens is buying is released, we'll let you know.

See more details about the new deal at CouponsintheNews.com.

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